Improvements in LED Lighting

One can hardly fail to notice the switch from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting. Perhaps more importantly is the development of LED lighting which is safer for the environment and considerably cheaper over the life of the bulb. LED bulbs last much longer than any other type of lighting and they consume a fraction of the electricity other forms of illumination do.

One issue that has cropped up with some of the LED products of the past is reliability. The bulbs are expensive and some fail very quickly. Those that do can normally be returned and replaced, but the hassle has made some people wary.

Research funded by the United States Army Research office has discovered a way to improve both lighting and reliability. LED lights make use of a gallium nitride film in forming the diode that produces the light. A new technology, developed in North Carolina, reduces the defects in the film significantly. Additionally, the new film allows the diodes to produce more light – up to twice as much.

The defects are removed by deliberately placing a void within the film. Defects in the crystalline structure of the GaN film are drawn to the voids, preventing them from running through the entire thickness of the product. Adding the voids decreases the number of defects by 90%.

The Future Looks Bright

This innovation is expected to help drive down the price of LED bulbs in the next 5 years. By improving production, waste will be decreased; less waste equals greater profitability for fewer supplies, and a commensurate drop in cost.

While CFL bulbs may work as a stop gap measure for now, their inherent risk, mercury, is unsolvable. Even though CFL bulbs use less power than incandescent bulbs, they pose a different risk to the environment. Even if you break a bulb at home the consequences are at best annoying, at worst, downright dangerous.

In order to get the best LED lighting solution for your home and budget, consider replacing those bulbs that are out of the way first. You won’t have to switch out that bulb for up to 20 years, and you get a chance to see the technology develop, selecting only the best for your home.

Michael Rupkalvis works with the LedBulbsandLights website. The site features a variety of different types of environmentally-friendly LED products, including MR16 LED spotlight and other LED bulbs.